The George Santos Sentence Commutation Has Victims

In response to the "No Kings" protests this weekend, President Trump shared an AI-generated video involving brown liquid that surely signifies excrement. On Today's Show:Stuart A. Thompson, reporter at The New York Times covering online influence, breaks down his latest reporting on how President Donald Trump is using fake artificial intelligence generated imagery to attack his perceived enemies and successfully rouse his supporters.

Recently, President Trump commuted the sentence of former Long Island congressman George Santos.On Today's Show:Grace Ashford, New York Times reporter covering New York State politics and government, talks about why Trump wanted Santos's early release after serving less than three months of his long sentence for crimes related to theft and fraud.

House Speaker Mike Johnson called this weekend's "No Kings" protests "hate America" rallies. On Today's Show:Listeners call in to share what they were rallying for and against, and respond to Johnson's characterization of the marches.

The Supreme Court has, over the past few years, opted to grant the federal government and the executive branch more and more leeway. On Today's Show:Emily Bazelon, staff writer for The New York Times Magazine, co-host of Slate's "Political Gabfest" podcast, Truman Capote fellow for creative writing and law at Yale Law School and author of Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution  and End Mass Incarceration (Random House, 2019) previews the cases the Supreme Court will take up in its new term, including a redistricting case they are hearing arguments on this week, and offers analysis of just how much presidential power the court will afford to President Trump in upcoming decisions.

President Trump has been using different executive agency programs to target certain cities. On Today's Show:U.S. Senator Andy Kim (D NJ) weighs in on the Trump announcement that the Gateway tunnel project is "terminated."

The federal government shutdown is now in its 15th day.On Today's Show:David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker and the host of The New Yorker Radio Hour, talks about the latest national political news, including the latest on President Trump's 'autocratic' tendencies. 

On Saturday, the Trump administration rescinded the layoffs of hundreds of scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who were mistakenly fired the day before. On Today's Show:Apoorva Mandavilli, science and global health reporter at The New York Times, explains what happened and who remains at the CDC.

On today's show: Julian Brave NoiseCat, writer, filmmaker, student of Salish art and history and the author of We Survived the Night (Knopf, 2025), talks about his new book, the story of North American indigenous people through his reporting and his own story, all in the style of a traditional "coyote story." 

Venezuela's opposition leader María Corina Machado has been named as the 2025 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.On Today's Show:Gideon Rose, adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), the former editor of Foreign Affairs and author of How Wars End (Simon & Schuster, 2010), talks about Corina Machado's work, and related world news.

The federal government shutdown continues, as Trump's efforts in the Middle East draw praise.On Today's Show:Jonathan Lemire, co-host of "Morning Joe" on MSNBC, contributing writer at The Atlantic and author of the book,The Big Lie: Election Chaos, Political Opportunism, and the State of American Politics After 2020 (Flatiron Books, 2022), talks about what he calls the "project 2025 shutdown" and more national political news.